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Central Pacific Railroad Essay

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In October of 1893 the Central Pacific Railroad Company drove the first spike into what would soon become the most important railroad in the world and one which would change U.S. history forever. In the west the route began in San Francisco. Across the great plains the eastern route began in Omaha, Nebraska. They met at Promontory, Utah on May 10, 1869. During construction a brutal civil war raged through the country, sparked by hate, and fueled by fear. However, the southern secession and the war that followed created new opportunities as the southern states could no longer contest the route preferred by northern legislators. Likewise, previous legislation passed had already begun what the transcontinental …show more content…

One of the most important effects was the exponential shrinkage of travel time across the country. This lead to a new style of business and consumerism, one that would take hold in evolving America. Likewise, the use of trains in the transport of goods was a catalyst for the economy of a neoteric America. This budding economy would rely on the freight capabilities of trains to provide resources throughout the country. On the other hand, easy access to the great plains was a key element in the near extinction of the American bison. The conservation of bison after their near extinction was an expensive and prolonged effort. In the future, the destruction of the plains Indian would come to haunt the United States, costing the federal government billions in reparations. Conversely, the construction of the transcontinental railroad strengthened America’s belief in manifest destiny and impacted the growth of American Imperialism. The growth of American Imperialism has led to territories in Central America and the acquisition of Hawaii as the 49th state. Furthermore, without the Transcontinental Railroad one could only speculate the impediment of American development, and how it would have affected world events, from America’s position as a world power to the outcome of both World

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A man named Judah devised the route for the Central Pacific and was later changed by a man named Daniel Strong, which chose a more effective route. Judah would have been the railroads engineer but was killed by the deadly Yellow Fever in Panama. Judah was on his way to meet the very successful man named Cornelius Vanderbilt. After Judah had passed, Samuel Montague and Lewis Clements became head engineers for the railroad. Unlike the Union Pacific, the Central Pacific hired Chinese immigrants who moved to California in search of gold.

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Central Pacific Railroad started from San Francisco, and used Chinese laborers for their work, pushing through the Sierra Nevada mountains. In 1867, to encourage quick progression, Congress deemed the land remaining between the two companies, which was the Utah plains, to be paid at mountain rate. This motivated the Union Pacific crew to lay 360 miles of track, and the Central Pacific crew to lay 425 miles of track within the year (Stockwell, 2011). Unfortunately, this hasty pace came at a cost.

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Life for the Native Americans was much harder during and after the western expansion. For example, the US took land from the Indians leading the formation of reservations, White men almost hunted the Buffalo , an important food source for the Indians, to extinction, and forced the Indians to get rid of their culture. Because of the western expansion, the area of land the Indians could occupy decreased significantly. The government would make treaties with the Indians allowing them to keep a certain area of land, but this would soon be broken ; When the Pacific Railroad Act was passed it stated that wherever a track was laid the company would own any land 200 ft surrounding the track including Indian land ; the Government would make sure that

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